UK average rents lifted 0.6% to £1,283 in October from a month ago, while rising further to hit a record high in London, presenting “a bleak” picture for tenants, data from HomeLet shows.
This per calendar month uplift is a 9.6% rise on rental prices from a year ago, says the letting agency’s latest Rental Index.
It adds that in Greater London rents soared to a new high of £2,192 a month.
Over the last month, lets rose by as much as 1.35% in the North East, 1.29% in Wales and 1.26% in Northern Ireland, according to the study.
Excluding London, average rents rose 0.7% to £1068 per calendar month in October, up 9.4% from this time last year.
The survey points out that rising rents are failing to match wage increases, adding that tenants can expect to pay 32.7% of their wages in rent, which is up 2.1% on a year ago.
In the capital, people can expect to pay 38.8% of their wages on rental costs.
UK inflation remains unchanged at 6.7% in the year to September, while wages rose by 8.5% in the year to July.
HomeLet & Let Alliance chief executive Andy Halstead says: “The picture, to put it frankly, is bleak in the UK.
“Rent prices in our country have increased by almost 10% in just a year, and the last few months in particular account for that huge surge.”
Halstead adds: “Renters are being priced out, and homeowners are left with nobody to fill their vacancies.
“I believe we need to see an end to these soaring prices, and fast, before we have a full rental crisis on our hands in the UK.”
